Pleasing the Mob?

The type of activism that goes to the streets or is very vocal on social media should always be taken with a grain of salt. Where one group may say that we need government policy to do one thing, you might have another group whose interests are in the way and may end up suffering. Most politicians have the mentality of pleasing the mob. Meaning they jump on board any seemingly popular opinion with no regard to the soundness of the opinion.

Last week, a young girl named Greta Thunberg made headlines as she demanded that the world governments should take serious steps to address climate change. I personally have a problem with some politicians using her to paint others in a bad light as it does have an appeal to emotion. However, her points ring true and the internet activists flocked to support her.

Later in the week, public utility vehicles (PUVs) drivers and operators protested the PUV modernization program - a program that would slowly phase out the jeepneys (the old ones; more than 15 years old) and introduce more energy efficient and environmentally friendly PUVs! Isn't this what we wanted? Government (at least our own) making moves to address climate change? Well, not so much. Internet activists are then quick to point out how this policy is anti-poor and will negatively effect the drivers as the cars are too expensive. A direct consequence would be higher fares and no one wants that. Or so they say.

I'm in no way saying the same people protest both ways. I'm happy that I haven't noticed the same person complaining about the two inter-related issues both ways. What I am saying is that we cannot allow ourselves to be blinded simply by the loudest complainers (aka, the mob). Now, this second group of activists are now calling for the government to pay for the new jeeps. This then goes back to my post about free things.

Can our government afford to purchase all these new jeeps? For some reference, each unit would cost up to Php2M. Now, let's say we can afford them. Would you trust any government official to handle that kind of money? I think not.

I prefer the politicians who don't listen to mob. The ones that listen to the people without listening to the mob. Ones that try to solve the problem and not just give the mob what they want. Coz more often than not, the mob has no idea what actually works.